Increased efforts are being made to give individuals more control over how their personal identity information is distributed and used, particularly in a digital context. For example, Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., among others, has propagated a system sometimes referred to as the Information Card Selector—Microsoft's instantiation is generally referred to as Windows CardSpace. In a Windows CardSpace system, a principal obtains one or more digital identity representations, sometimes referred to as information cards. When the principal attempts to access a resource (a “relying party”) that requires a set of claims made about the principal, the principal employs a digital identity representation (hereafter called a “DIR”) to initiate communication with an identity provider that can assert those claims. In some cases, the identity provider may be controlled by a principal and run on the principal's own machine. In others it may be controlled by a third party. The identity provider returns an “identity token” that includes the required claims information.
DIRs are useful in, among other contexts, complying with relying-party requests for identity tokens. Providing easy and secure use of DIRs is advantageous to principals seeking access to such relying parties.